Qatar 2022 World Cup starts six years from today but major concerns still surround the winter tournament

Fears have emerged as stadium plans are held back, a shortage of hotel rooms and concerns over an alcohol ban

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by Vikki Orvice from Doha

21st November 2016,2:59 pm

Updated: 22nd November 2016,8:20 am

SIX years today the eyes of the world will be focused on Qatar as the 2022 World Cup kicks off on November 21 in the tiny gas-rich nation.

Controversy has dogged Qatar since it won the bid in the first place and with temperatures regularly topping 50C (122F) during the summer months, the World Cup will take place in a host country’s winter for the first time, with the final set to be played on December 18 – Qatar National Day.

Sepp Blatter unvieled that Qatar would host the 2022 World Cup in Zurich

“QATAR DESERVES THE BEST” is the slogan now plastered on hoardings concealing building sites for the new Doha metro project as cranes dominate the skyline. Although the joke among local ex-pats is that a more apt slogan would be “Qatar Buys the Best”.

Nor is controversy likely to go away.

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While there is no suggestion the tournament will not be staged here, FIFA is already on a collision course with the local organising committee over the sale of alcohol.

SunSport has also learned concerns about hooliganism at Euro 2016 involving England and Russian supporters among others in Marseille has led to Qatar football chiefs talking to French security bosses with the prospect of special courts set up for supporters who fall out of line.

And with the global recession impacting even one of the wealthiest nations on the planet, plans for 12 stadia in the original bid are set to be scaled back to eight – the minimum required – with the possibility that one may even be funded with PRIVATE money not Government funding.

Five are currently under construction with Khalifa International Stadium the first stadium to be completed early next year – mainly because it will also host the 2019 World Athletics Championships.

But other projects are being abandoned or scaled down, including an enormous engineering feat in Doha involving two arches near the shore of the Arabian Sea with a visitors centre suspended in the air.

There is also concern that there will not be enough hotel rooms in the capital Doha – the focus of the tournament in a country mostly covered by desert – and in a nation used to endless bureaucracy and red-tape that FIFA will need to keep a close watch to ensure work is finished on time.

Qatar has strict rules about alcohol with drinking banned in public places and most restaurants. It is sold in a few swanky hotels where prices at £10 for a glass of wine or a beer should itself reduce consumption among fans given it is also a criminal offence to be publicly drunk.

Westerners working in Doha who want to drink at home must have a permit to buy from the ONE off-licence in the city and even then permits are only granted after a lengthy period of residency. Alcohol cannot be brought into the country with security checks at airports.

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Hassan Al Thawadi, the chief executive of Qatar’s local organising committee, has gone on record stating he is against the sale of alcohol at stadiums only to back-track during a FIFA inspection by Secretary General Fatma Samoura two weeks ago that it was a “personal opinion.”

That may have something to do with the fact FIFA sponsors such as Budweiser might eventually step in and insist alcohol is sold inside stadiums.

Al Thawadi has since said there will be alcohol at the tournament.

Al Thawadi, who also wants to create alcohol-free fan zones, said: “There will be no alcohol consumption on the streets, squares and public places and that is final.

“Availability of alcohol during the tournament will commensurate with our customs and traditions. “Personally, I’m against the provision of alcohol in stadiums. Our goal is to narrow alcohol consumption to specific places far away from public spaces.

But Al Thawadi also admitted last week that private funding is now being considered to build Ras Abu Aboud stadium – near Doha airport – and training pitches. The venue is one of three for which designs have still yet to be revealed.

And the lack of interest in the national team itself remains another problem as I found on a previous visit two years ago.

Fatma Samoura’s FIFA visit two weeks ago took in Qatar v Russia, a friendly between the next two controversial World Cup hosts. The crowd…just over 4,000. She was probably one of the few women there too.